I watched Game of Thrones live on Now TV and the adverts where a nasty surprise. You forget how much broadcast TV damages the content with ads. It would not surprise me if in five years time TV was exactly the same as it always was, just transported differently.
Game of Thrones (and all HBO shows) are not broadcast in the US with commercials; do they edit in commercial breaks in semi-random spots (or just pre/post-roll)? How much time do they add per hour?